Review Summary

In "Warriors of Heaven and Earth," a seventh-century Chinese swordsman finds himself far from home, a hired guard for caravans along the Silk Road. As a martial-arts answer to Marshall Will Kane, Lieutenant Li (Jiang Wen) stands between bandits, imperialists and some precious cargo. He Ping, the director of 1994's "Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker," has mixed Chinese and Western before, and his panoramic epic will wow any viewer with the natural splendor of white deserts, red mountains and green valleys. Anyone expecting "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's" high-flying kicks and chops will be startled by the bloodbath. The staging, particularly the siege of a fort and a standoff in a desert, can be artful and electrifying, but the dialogue is occasionally as laughable as "Blazing Saddles." A serene monk provides the warriors with some sacred oomph, and for the viewer, a needed uplift amid all the evisceration.  Ned Martel